"It's in our national interests that America help deal with hopelessness; and it's in our moral interests that we help brothers and sisters who hurt. It's been the policy of the Bush Administration since day one."

President George W. Bush, February 17, 2008

The President, in Collaboration with Other Leaders from the G-8 Nations, Took Action to:

Place accountability firmly on the G-8 agenda by releasing the first detailed reports on implementation of commitments on health and corruption, and requesting additional reports for the future;

Improve global food security by addressing urgent needs for food while launching mid-term and long-term work to promote sound policies and double food production in key African countries;

Stress the need for concerted efforts to address the underlying supply and demand side causes of the rise in oil prices;

Advance work on climate change by:

Stressing that effective action on climate change requires all major economies to commit to meaningful, mid-term mitigation actions bound in a new international agreement;

Seeking a long-term vision of a low-carbon society and for all parties to UN Climate Change Convention to consider and adopt a goal of at least having halving emissions by 2050; and

Issuing a detailed report and matrices on G-8 member progress to meet key health commitments and establishing a follow-up mechanism to ensure continued progress;

Pledging to fulfill over 5 years the $60 billion commitment to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB made at Heiligendamm;

Keeping up momentum towards eradicating polio by maintaining or increasing funding for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and encouraging other donors to do the same;

Requesting progress reports on implementation of commitments on water and education for delivery at the 2009 G-8 summit; and

Reaffirming their commitment to fight corruption, welcoming a report on G-8 member actions to implement commitments on anti-corruption, and pledging to prepare the report annually

Food Security

Building on the President's Recent Food Security Initiative, G-8 Leaders Took Action by:

Welcoming the over $10 billion committed by the G-8 since January 2008 for short-, medium-, and long-term purposes to support food aid, nutrition, and measures to increase agricultural output in affected countries;

Agreeing to work toward doubling production of key food staples in 5-10 years in African countries that meet the criteria of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program;

Working with the international community to form a global partnership on agriculture and food;

Seeking to ensure more food is available by calling for removing export restrictions;

Looking for opportunities to build up local agriculture by promoting local purchase of food aid;

Recognizing the need for an urgent and successful conclusion of an ambitious, comprehensive and balanced WTO Doha Round;

Pledging to increase access to new agricultural technologies and promoting science-based risk analysis including on the contribution of seed varieties developed through biotechnology;

Promoting the training of a new generation of developing country scientists; and

Tasking a new G-8 Experts Group to monitor implementation of commitments.

Stressing the need for concerted efforts to address the underlying supply and demand side causes of the rise in oil prices;

Emphasizing the importance of transparency, energy efficiency, and diversification;

Reiterating their commitment to the St. Petersburg Energy Security Principles and stressing the importance of well-functioning markets that send undistorted price signals and are free from any political pressure; and

Committing to train health workers in African countries that are experiencing a critical shortage, in an effort to work towards the World Health Organization threshold of a minimum of 2.3 health workers per 1,000 people;

Agreeing to work to reach, within 5 years, at least 75 percent of people with certain major neglected tropical diseases in the most affected countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; and

Pledging to provide 100 million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets through bilateral and multilateral assistance, in partnership with other stakeholders, by 2010.

Climate Change, Clean Energy Technology, and Energy Efficiency

G-8 Leaders Agreed that Actions by All Major Economies are Essential for Tackling Climate Change While Also:

Looking forward to and endorsing the positive contribution of the Major Economies Leaders Meeting to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process;

Seeking to share with all parties of the UNFCCC the vision of moving to a low-carbon society, and together with them to consider and adopt the goal of achieving at least a 50 percent reduction of global emissions by 2050, recognizing the need for contributions by all major economies;

Recognizing that an effective post-2012 climate change regime will require all major economies, developed and developing, to commit to meaningful mitigation actions bound in a new international agreement;

Welcoming the establishment of the Clean Technology Fund proposed by President Bush in September 2007, towards which the United States is pledging $2 billion over 3 years;

Committing to increasing investment in clean energy technology R&D, with G-8 members so far pledging over $10 billion annually in direct government-funded R&D;

Calling for enhanced efforts in the WTO Doha Round to eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers to environmental goods and services with a view to significantly expanding dissemination of clean technology and services; and

Agreeing to maximize implementation in each of our countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) 25 recommendations on energy efficiency and supporting the new International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation (IPEEC).

Development and Africa

G-8 Leaders Reiterated that Development Cooperation is Based on Mutual Accountability:

Reaffirming that G-8 development work will be grounded in a set of core development policy principles reflecting those of the Administration's Millennium Challenge Corporation, including good governance and broad-based private sector-led growth, and that country ownership and partnership are essential for effective development assistance;

Renewing their commitment to the agenda agreed in the Monterrey Conference on Financing for Development for mobilizing all available sources of financing;

Working with Africans to create conditions that increase private investment including greater institutional capacity in financial markets, partnerships to develop infrastructure, investment climate reform, risk-sharing guarantees for entrepreneurs, and support for investment funds; and

Facilitating free and open trade through the multilateral trade system and implementing commitments made regarding trade-related technical assistance.

Open Global Economy

G-8 Leaders Noted the Importance of Open Markets by:

Stressing the importance of promptly concluding an ambitious and balanced WTO Doha Round that achieves positive and tangible results in agriculture, industrial goods, and services, recognizing that major emerging economies must do their share to help lift millions out of poverty;

Assuring nondiscriminatory treatment and high standards of investment protection;

Encouraging capital markets liberalization and facilitating cross-border investment flows, including through the mutual recognition of comparable securities regimes; and

Welcoming commitments by some sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to greater transparency and encouraging ongoing work to identify best practices for SWFs and recipient countries of SWF investment.

Agreeing that counterterrorism work by G-8 countries would be guided by shared principles, including that all terrorist acts are criminal, unjustifiable, and must be unequivocally condemned; that suicide bombings are a particularly despicable tactic; that abductions and the taking of hostages by terrorists are repugnant practices to be strongly condemned; that conflict, oppression, and poverty do not excuse or justify terrorism; and that terrorist abuse of the freedoms inherent to democratic societies to spread hated and incite violence will not be tolerated;

Committing to strengthen efforts to combat terrorist financing, including use of cash couriers and bulk cash smuggling, and preventing exploitation and terrorist abuse of the charitable sector; and

Calling on all UN Member States to implement UN measures to counter terrorism, including the Global Counter-terrorism Strategy and relevant Security Council resolutions.

G-8 Leaders Discussed How to Advance Common Interests in Critical Regions, including:

Iran

G-8 Leaders Strongly Urged Iran to Comply With Its International Obligations. They:

Expressed serious concern about the Iranian regime's continued defiance of the international community's demand that it suspend all uranium enrichment, reprocessing, and heavy water-related activities; and

Reiterated to the Iranian regime that it faces a stark choice: non-cooperation and continued sanctions, or cooperation.

Reaffirmed the importance of economic and social development, along with border control measures, in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region; and

Committed to further strengthen coordination of G-8 efforts in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region in cooperation with the respective countries, international organizations, and other parties.

North Korea

G-8 Leaders Strongly Urged the DPRK to Fulfill Immediately All Its Commitments, Including by:

Fully cooperating in the comprehensive verification of its declaration of all nuclear programs, including early establishment of the verification regime and its effective implementation; and

Abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the NPT and IAEA safeguards.

Zimbabwe

G-8 Leaders Stressed Their Grave Concern About the Situation in Zimbabwe. They:

Deplored the actions of the Zimbabwe authorities that made a free and fair Presidential run-off election impossible;

Strongly urged the Zimbabwe authorities to work with the opposition to achieve a prompt, peaceful resolution of the crisis in accordance with the democratic will of the people as expressed in the March 29 elections;

Committed to take further steps, inter alia, introducing financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for violence; and

Expressed deep concern over the suspension of humanitarian aid.

Middle East Peace Process

G-8 Leaders Reiterated Their Support for the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations. They:

Called on all parties to refrain from any action that would undermine the negotiations and to implement their Road Map obligations; and

Welcomed the recent political progress in Lebanon and called on all parties to comply with relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions.

Burma

G-8 Leaders Expressed Strong Concern About the Political Situation in Burma. They:

Called on the authorities in Burma to immediately release all political detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to foster a transition to a legitimate, democratic, civilian government; and

Remain committed to ensuring aid reaches those affected by Cyclone Nargis and call on the authorities in Burma to lift all remaining restrictions on access for foreign aid workers.

Sudan

G-8 Leaders Reiterated Their Strong Concern About the Deteriorating Situation in Darfur. The G-8:

Urged all parties to commit to an immediate ceasefire and reengage with the peace process;

Stated their continued support for UNAMID, encouraged countries to provide assistance to the mission, and urged the Government of Sudan to assist in expediting its full deployment; and

With regard to Darfur, called on all parties to abide by their obligations under the relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions